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One alternative is to use javascript to open "nofollow" links in new windows:

Code HTML4Strict:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"><htmllang="en"><head><metahttp-equiv="Content-Type"content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title>Unobtrusive Javascript to Open External Links in New Windows</title><metaname="generator"content="PSPad editor, www.pspad.com"><scripttype="text/javascript">
// Of course this would be an external script!
function relNofollow(){
var links = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
for (var i=0; i < links.length; i++){ var link= links[i]; if (link.getAttribute('href') && link.getAttribute('rel')=='nofollow'){link.title="Opens in a new window";link.onclick= function(){ window.open(this.href); return false;}}}}window.onload= relNofollow;</script></head><body ><p>Using unobtrusive javascript to open all "nofollow" attributed <arel="nofollow"href="#">external</a> links in a new window but not <ahref="#">internal</a> links.</p></body></html>

Remembering of course that yourvisitors have final control over where links open. For example I have my browser set to always open links from the same site in the same window/tab and links to different sites in a new tab regardless of what the web page recommends.

Remembering of course that yourvisitors have final control over where links open.

Yes, it's just as well that visitors have the final say. I often open links in a new tab because I don't want to lose my place. The only reason I've ever wanted to know how to set links to open in a new window was because clients often insist on it, despite the trend away from this for usability reasons.

The trend away from it means that the HTML way of doing it has been deprecated (ie flagged as obsolete) for the last 10 years.

Yes, I realize that, and for good reason. I had a long argument over a recent site on this issue. The clients just didn't want to know about usability testing and all the rest--hence I had to find a solution to keep them happy that didn't use deprecated code. I guess it's like a patient not accepting the doctor's advice. It must drive doctors crazy.